:: Netmarcos' Notes ::

:: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 ::

You have to read this. It will be hard, but you should read it...and then share it with your family.BLACKFIVE: Taking Chance Home

:: Mark 5:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Investigative Report
Saddam's WMD Have Been Found!
Why has no one been notified?

In virtually every case - chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missiles - the United States has found the weapons and the programs that the Iraqi dictator successfully concealed for 12 years from U.N. weapons inspectors.

:: Mark 9:15 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Add this voice to the national marriage debate.

The Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness--defined as "the philosophy and practice of loving or relating intimately to more than one other person at a time with honesty and integrity"--says that polyamory is a good solution for those who can't abide monogamy but don't want to cheat.

Just keep moving. There is no slippery slope to look at here folks. C'mon. Move along now.

More here.

:: Mark 9:46 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Great coverage of the petition against the FCC's Golden Globe ruling. But what is truly inspiring is this little piece at the end of the column:

Last week's column gave readers a chance to contribute money to help restore seven small TV stations in Iraq. The project is the joint idea of the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad, and Spirit of America, a philanthropy begun by Los Angeles businessman Jim Hake to assist American GIs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Hake's goal is to raise $100,000 to buy equipment to upgrade the stations. Here are the results:
As of yesterday afternoon, some 4,965 readers of The Wall Street Journal (and their friends) had contributed $880,321. The individual contributions ranged from $3.50 to $50,000.

:: Mark 9:42 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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So true.

:: Mark 11:12 AM [+] ::
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No one is safe until the sponsors and perpetrators of evil have been disarmed or destroyed.

Jordanian authorities have seized cars filled with explosives and weapons, and arrested several suspected terrorists in recent days.

:: Mark 4:39 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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MWUAHHHHAHAHAHAH!

The CIA says the voice on that audio tape probably is Osama. Here's an idea. Say it isn't Osama. Challenge him. Say that Osama is suffering from a special strain of syphilis usually found only in camels and now Osama can only spit, grunt and bray. Maybe it will flush him out.

:: Mark 4:08 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Even more anti-PCfallout from the 9/11 commission hearings.

"We had testimony a couple of months ago from the past president of United, and current president of American Airlines that kind of shocked us all," Lehman told me. "They said under oath that indeed the Department of Transportation continued to fine any airline that was caught having more than two people of the same ethnic persuasion in a secondary line for line for questioning, including and especially, two Arabs."

Wait a minute. So if airline security had three suspicious Arab guys they had had to let one go because they'd reached a quota?

Excuse me!? ...but in my world, the most politically correct move one could make is to ensure the survival of the nation that you claim to work for. The pain and confusion that erupts in my brain when I try to make sense of the absurdity displayed in this brief comment is more than I can bear.

We are in serious trouble here.

:: Mark 3:48 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Mansoor Ijazhas even more analysis on 9/11 Commission and pre-9/11 priorities regarding the handling of one Osama bin Laden.

:: Mark 3:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More on the melt-down of the 9/11 commission from Andrew C. McCarthy over at N.R.O.
He seems appropriatly miffed and outraged at Chairman Tom Kean's claim that "people ought to stay out of our business[,]" in regard to questions surrounding Jaime Gorelick's place on the panel.

Let's start with the most obvious: The work of the 9/11 Commission is America's business; it is not the private aerie of its ten plugged-in appointees. America expects its tribunals to exude integrity, to be above crass suspicions that the fix is in or that decisions are being made based on something other than a dispassionate review of the relevant circumstances. A tribunal, like the 9/11 Commission, cannot achieve that standard of probity if it has, sitting as a judge, a person whose conduct is at the core of what must be judged.

This ain't quantum physics. It's elementary. Consequently, Kean's obtuseness — like that of his fellow commissioner Slade Gorton, who so thoughtfully pronounced that criticisms of Gorelick's status were "garbage" — makes the commission's entire body of work suspect. Even Kean's defense of Gorelick bespeaks a thorough-going ignorance about what is at issue. He says that she is among the hardest working and most bipartisan of all the commissioners; the first assertion is no doubt true, the second is dubious, but more importantly both are wholly beside the point.

You really should read the whole thing and then keep a very watchfull eye on the whole process.

:: Mark 3:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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You must read this from Iraq.

Instapundit had this to say about it,

To me, the most interesting quote was this one: "It showed not only the intensity of the resistance but an acute willingness among insurgents to die." You can always find something to agree on, if you look hard enough.

Heh.

:: Mark 3:23 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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An interesting observation on the 9/11 commission and the particular role of Richard ben Veniste in this soap-opera.

Fifty years from now, the conspiracy theorists will be wondering what ben Veniste set out to hide and whether he accomplished his mission. Too late to change that now, but speculation about ben Veniste's cover-ups will come to rival the cottage industry surrounding Dallas. A great fate for one of prosecutors of Watergate.

:: Mark 3:03 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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The 9/11 comission has a serious credibility problem.OpinionJournal - Featured Article

the White House could hardly be blamed if it decided to cease cooperation with the 9/11 Commission pending Ms. Gorelick's resignation and her testimony under oath as a witness into the mind of the Reno Justice Department. What exactly was the purpose of the wall?

:: Mark 2:42 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More bad news for the Kerry campaign.
Trade Gap Shrinks as Imports, Exports Hit Record

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in February as a combination of the weak U.S. dollar and stronger economic growth propelled both exports and imports to record levels, a government report showed on Wednesday.

The February trade gap totaled $42.1 billion, down more than 3 percent from January and slightly below analysts' pre-report expectations of $42.5 billion.


U.S. exports leapt four percent -- the highest monthly increase since October 1996 -- to a record $92.4 billion, while imports rose 1.6 percent to a record $134.5 billion.


The politically sensitive trade gap with China fell nearly 28 percent in February as imports from that country slipped to $11.3 billion, the lowest level in nearly a year, and exports to China rose 17 percent to $3.0 billion.


The lower dollar appeared to help all categories of exports, as shipments of industrial supplies and materials and autos and auto parts both set records. Exports of consumer goods were only slightly below the record set in November and exports of capital goods, such as aircraft and industrial machines, were the highest since May 2001.


Exports of services, which include travel, also set a record.

:: Mark 9:28 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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It is hard for me to believe that Oliver Stone is really this stupid.

ALB: Now, when you were talking to the prisoners who tried to hijack a plane, one told you he was a fisherman, and you said, "Why then didn't you take a boat?" Why did you ask that?

OS: Well, it seemed to me that if they were familiar with boats, it seemed to be the best way.

ALB: Did you know that in Cuba there are virtually no boats? The boats that are used for fishermen are tightly controlled. One of the more surreal aspects of Cuba, being the largest island in the Caribbean, is that there are no visible boats.

OS: I see.

:: Mark 9:26 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Hmmmmm? Maybe you should read what this man has to say.

my primary objection isn't the totalitarian potential of national IDs, nor the likelihood that they'll create a whole immense new class of social and economic dislocations. Nor is it the opportunities they will create for colossal boondoggles by government contractors. My objection to the national ID card, at least for the purposes of this essay, is much simpler:

It won't work. It won't make us more secure.

In fact, everything I've learned about security over the last 20 years tells me that once it is put in place, a national ID card program will actually make us less secure.

:: Mark 4:16 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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This guy isn't any better.WorldNetDaily: Prof says 'no proof' Muslims behind 9-11

There is "no conclusive proof" Arabs and Muslims were behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the U.S. itself may be responsible, asserts an Egyptian professor at American University of Cairo.

:: Mark 11:18 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Read this and watch the movies.

They're gonna say some Palestinian being too radical -- well, you haven't seen radicalism yet!"

We are WAYYYY to soft on the more strident and radical members of the anti-war groups.

:: Mark 11:16 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Andy Rooney has outlived his mind.

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes. …

:: Mark 11:11 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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There are many reasons to read James Taranto's Best of the Web Today. Any one of them would be worth a visit, but today I can count at least 6.

:: Mark 11:09 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Another option for dealing with hostage situations from James S. Robbinson on National Review Online

:: Mark 1:12 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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The winds of change are blowing again...and not always in a favorable direction.

First Amendment arguments are losing ground to antidiscrimination laws in many areas, and once stalwart free-speech groups, like the American Civil Liberties Union, have mostly gone over to the other side. An unlikely split has occurred. In the interest of fighting bias, liberal groups reliably promote laws that limit First Amendment principles. The best defenders of free speech and freedom of religion are no longer on the left. They are found on the right.

:: Mark 1:05 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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There is a lot of powerful stuff up at Winds of Change.NET: Dan's Winds of War: 2004-12-04

:: Mark 1:00 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Condi rocks!FOXNews.com - Politics - Raw Data: Full Hearing Transcript

After the September 11th attacks, our nation faced hard choices: We could fight a narrow war against Al Qaida and the Taliban, or we could fight a broad war against a global menace. We could seek a narrow victory, or we could work for a lasting peace and a better world.

President Bush has chosen the bolder course.

:: Mark 1:14 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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news like this will drive John Kerry and his pals NUTS!

"Any way you slice it, the world is creating or transferring more jobs to the U.S. than we are doing to the rest of the world," said Daniel T. Griswold, a trade specialist at the Cato Institute, a research organization in Washington.

:: Mark 2:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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